Chubut issues red alert, Chile to send aid

Chubut authorities issued a red alert for the fires that were affecting forest areas and decided to evacuate El Hoyo town, while 40 Chilean firefighters were expected to arrive to the mountain region to assist Argentine emergency workers. It was also reported that another fire broke out in the Neuquén town of Moquehue.

The wildfires began on Tuesday, affecting some 2,000 hectares of forestland, causing 40 evacuations from the local areas, some 12 km from the tourist town of El Hoyo.

The Chubut Government informed today through a communiqué that, due to the seriousness of the fires, they requested aid from Chilean firefighters to the Chilean Embassy, Chubut officials from the National Plan for Fire Management (PNMF) informed.  In the past four days more than 300 Argentine firemen were trying to combat the fires in Puerto Patriada.

Chubut Governor Martín Buzzi, told press reporters that he hoped the arrival of the Chilean firefighters would go through and said, “we are grateful for the help efforts from our neighbouring country, who also have suffered fires in recent days, and that they join forces with our hardworking and courageous firefighters.”

Buzzi remarks were in reference to the 55,000 hectares of forest fires that spread across the Chilean Patagonia causing six deaths. More than 2,000 firemen, tens of planes and emergency teams from Argentina, Australia, Uruguay and the US were working in Chile to combat the fires.

Meanwhile, another fire was reported to have broken out in Neuquén, near Moquehue. The Nacional Forecasting service (SMN) announced that rains were expected during the weekend, which would ease the situation slightly.